Sphygmomanometer cuff or the like



E ZSZSEBW 1941- H. a... MASON ETAL v SPHYGMOMANOHETER UUFF UR THE LIKEFiled April 14. 1938 r.r-[ ee g 1. 1 5,"v

7 17/ F 3 INVENTO'R.

KARL ,H. Huaannp Hzuzgr L. Mn N- ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 18 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SPHYGMOMANOMETEB CUFFOR THE LIKE Henry L. Mason and Karl H. Hubbard, Rochester,

-N. Y., assignors to Taylor Instrument Oom- Ypanikes, Rochester, N. Y.,a corporation of New Application April 14, 1938, Serial No. 201,910 3Claims. (01. 128-327) blood pressure readings, the out! should engage asubstantial length of the artery under observation. I it in accordancewith the main feature of the present invention, there is provided a cuffwhich has a circumierentialrestraint that is uniform throughout itscomplete width.

A further feature of they invention relates to a m coil construction inwhich the latching means ior giving the respective lengths of the cuffare ioooted intermediate oi the side edges of the cuff."

ii it will adjust itself to arms that are comically shaped aswell asthose that are cylin- M clinically shaped, and yet it provides a cufithat can be collapsed into small compass for packing in a. carryingcase.

liltill another feature of the invention relates to a and having simpleand rapidly-operable w latching means which provide various adjust-.inents oi the length of the cuff by a large numher of small steps witha minimum number of latching bars.

The various features and advantages of the 5, invention will appear fromthe detailed description and claims when taken with the drawing in whichFig. 1 is a perspective view of the sphygmomanometer out! of the presentinvention shown applied to an arm; Fig. 2 isa plan view 49 oi the cullwith a part thereof folded on itself; and Fig. 3 is a cross sectionalview of the cuff taken substantially on the line 3-4 of Fig. 2.

The sphygmomanometer out! of the present invention comprises the usualrectangular flat rubso her bag preferably about 5" in width, and of alength convenient for application to an arm. This rubber bag is closedexcept tor rubber tubes ii and l communicating with its interior. A handpump may be applied to the tube 6 for inflating so the bag, and a.sphygmomanometer (not shown) of well-known construction ma be connectedto the tube 1. The rubber bag 5 is encased in a fabric casing 8 whichprotects the rubber bag from wear and prevents the rubber from contact-55 log the patients arm. This fabric coverins.

which has one of its ends registering with an end of the bag, extends asubstantial distance beyond the other end of the ruber bag and is oi alength to encompass the largest arm or limb that may be encountered inuse. At the regis- I tering ends of the rubber bag 5 and cloth casing 8,there is in a pocket the casing tor a flat metal strip 9, of a lengthapproximately equal to the width of the rubber bag 5. This strip isprovided with two hooks in and i2 projecting through 10 the casingandhaving a. definite spaced relation,

as will be hereinafter set forth. The portion 01'. the fabric casingextending beyond the bag. is provided with a. series of spaced parallelmetal strips I3, each strip having a hole it therein at 18 itsintermediate part. These strips are substantially coextensive in lengthwith the width of the bag and are retained in pocketsln the isbriccasing Iormedby lines or stitching such as It. The intermediate portionofeach strip is exposed 20 through an opening on one side of the fabriccasing so that either the hook II! or the hook I! can be inserted into ahole H in one of the strips IS. AS indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, areeniforcing strip i1 oi. fabric is placed behind the strips IS in theregion or the holes I! therein to protect the fabric casing irom wear.In order to give the desired degree of adiustability with a minimumnumber of strips it so that the out! can be applied to arms oi allsizes, the space between the hooks i9 and ii is approximately equal tohalt the distance between the holes H in adjacent strips. Thus ii thespace between the two adjacent holes i4 is one inch and the spacebetween the books it and i2 is one-half of an inch, when the hook i2 isinserted in the hole It of a given strip the efiective length of thecult will be one-hali oi. an inch greater than ii the hook i0 had beeninserted in that hole.

As will be evident from Fig. 1, after the cut! 49 has been wrappedaround the arm, one or the other of the hooks Ill and I2 is engaged in ahole M in one of the cross strips 13. Since the hooks l0 and it, as wellas the holes II in the strips it, are located midway between the sideedges of the cull, the effective ends oi the cut! will turn about theengaged hook and hole ii to adjust the cull both to arms of conicalshape and to those oi cylindrical shape. Inasmuch as the length or thestrip 9 and the strips II are coextensive with the width 01' the cuff,there will be complete restraint over the entire width of the cufl',thereby improving the accuracy of the blood pressure readings, because asubstantial length of the brachial artery is engaged by the inflated 68rubber bag. It will be appreciated that since the space between thehooks to and I 2 is approximately one-half of the distance between thecen ters of the holes it in adjacent strips 18. the eflective length ofthe suit can be changed by amounts equal to one-half of the distance between adjacent holes M. This is effective to provide a large number ofadjusting steps without providing an equal number of strips I3. Itshould be noted that the right-hand portion of the cuff as illustratedin Fig. 2 can be folded between each of the strips l3 and therefore thecuff will collapse to a very small size for packing in a carrying case.

While the strip 8 with two hooks i and i2 thereon, has been provided atone end of the cufl, it will be understood that it may be replaced bytwo narrow strips each carrying a hook, the two hooks having the samespacing as that previously mentioned. Although two such hooks in thecombination as described, usually provide all necessary adjusting steps,it will be appreciated that a greater number of adjusting steps'can beeffected, without increasing the number of strips l8, merely byproviding the strip 9 with three hooks spaced apart a distanceapproximately equal to one-third of the spacing between adlacent stripsi3.

From Fig. 1 it will be seen that the cull need encircle the arm onlyonce, which facilitates its application to the patient's arm.

While the cuff has been disclosed in connection with a sphyamomanometer,it is also adapted for use as a venous constriction treatment cufl' ortourniquet.

We claim:

1. A sphygmomanometer cufi or similar blood flow restricting devicecomprising a casing, an inflatable bag disposed in said casing adjacentone end thereof, an extension on one end of said casing projectingbeyond said inflatable bag, a plurality of stifiening memberssubstantially coextensive in length with the width of said extension andsecured in spaced, substantially parallel relation on said extension,each stiffening member having an aperture formed in the intermediatepart thereof, and a transversely extending stiifening membersubstantially coextensive in length with the width of said casing andsecured to said casing adjacent one end of said bag, said last-mentionedmember having a pair of spaced hooks secured to the intermediate partthereof, the spacing of said hooks being less than the spacing betweenthe apertures of adjacent stifiening members on said extension, each ofsaid hooks being selectively engageable in any of said aesaoso apertureswhereby the stifiening member secured to said casing adjacent one end ofsaid bag may be connected to any one of said stiiiening membars on saidextension enabling the curl to ad just itself to the taper of the arm orother part of the body while providing circumferential restraint for thebag over substantially the entire width of the cuif.

2. In an arrangement of the class described, an elongated fabric casing,a plurality of spaced parallel stiffening members carried by said casingadjacent one end thereof, stifl'ening means carried by said casingadjacent the other end thereof, said members and said means extendingtransversely of said casing and being substantially coextensive inlength with the width of said casing, the ends of said members and saidmeans being enclosed in said casing, said members and said means eachhaving at a part intermediate the ends thereof intercngaging elementsthereon whereby said means may be connected to any of said membersenabling the casing to adjust itself to the taper of the arm or otherpart of the body to which it is applied, at least two of said elementsbeing located on said stiffening means, said last-mentioned elementsbeing spaced apart a distance materially less than the spacing betweensaid members, and each being selectively engageable with the elements onsaid members.

3. In a sphygmomanometer cull or similar blood flow restricting devicecomprising a substantially flat rectangular inflatable bag, a flexiblecasing enclosing said bag, said casing being substantially longerthansaid bag to provide an extension projecting beyond one end of saidbag, a plurality of spaced, substantially rigid parallel stripsextending transversely of and secured to said extension, an additionalstrip of substantially rigid material secured to said casing adjacentone end of said bag, each of said rigid strips being substantiallycoextensive in length with the width of said casing, the ends of saidstrips being retained in engagement with said casing, and substantiallypoint interengaging means on an intermediate part of said additionalstrip and on an intermediate part of each of said other strips wherebysaid additional strip may be latched with any of said first-mentionedstrips enabling the call to adjust itself to the taper of the arm orother part of the body to which it is applied while providingcircumferential restraint for the bag over substantially the entirewidth of the cuff.

HENRY L. MASON. KARL H. HUBBARD.

